


stole my heart

by Anonymous



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: 96line are best friends, Alternate Universe - High School, Kleptomaniac!Soonyoung, M/M, Underage Drinking, Use of meds, a small dash of meanie, seungcheol is an asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 01:37:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14760114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: in which kleptomaniac soonyoung has no idea why he hasn’t stolen jihoon’s heart yet.





	stole my heart

**Author's Note:**

> a big thank you to rae for betaing ♡

  
"Soonyoung, return it," Wonwoo demanded, putting his hand out, narrowing his eyes at the brown haired boy.

"Return what?" Soonyoung gave him an innocent look but his expression didn't alter the slightest bit. Wonwoo wasn't fazed by Soonyoung's naive act, already used to it by now.

"My keys."

Soonyoung reached into the back pocket of his trousers and threw the keys to Wonwoo, who caught it without a hassle and unlocked his locker to take his things out.

"You've gotta stop doing that," Wonwoo said to Soonyoung once they started walking to their class.

Soonyoung shrugged. "Force of habit."

When they reached, as if on cue, the bell rang and students began to rush to their class in hopes of not getting a detention slip.

Soonyoung and Wonwoo took their seats beside each other near the left corner right in front of Jihoon and Junhui.

"Good morning, ball of sunshine," Soonyoung greeted cheerfully to the grumpy looking Jihoon who just woke up from the sounds of chairs scraping against the tiled floors.

Jihoon scowled. "Don't call me that ever again."

Soonyoung grinned. "Noted."

Students piled inside the class, taking their respective seats and soon enough the teacher entered the classroom, a mug in his hand, closing the door with his foot.

"Morning, class. Okay, settle down. Today we'll be talking about. . ."

Soonyoung tuned out the rest of the lecture; the teacher's monotonous voice was making him doze off anyway. He rested his head on his hand, elbow on the desk while his mind went through a spiral of thoughts. He went through the rest of his classes the same way and in no time at all, it was lunch.

Students piled out of the classrooms in groups as the bell rang. The four boys followed the crowd to the canteen where they were squeezed into a single line. Once their trays were filled with food, they dumped themselves into their usual table.

The boys dug into their food with unusual silence and only white noise of chatter in the air. Soonyoung felt his hand twitch and before he knew it, he was already chewing and swallowing a piece of fry in his mouth.

"What did you take?" Jihoon demanded. "Give it back."

Soonyoung grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I can't return this one," he said, patting his stomach.

Jihoon rolled his eyes and went back to stuffing his mouth. Everyone knew he loved food more than anything. Except maybe. . .

"Hey, you're Woozi. . . right?"

Everyone around the table looked up.

Jihoon's eyes widened at the presence of Seungcheol, a fairly popular senior who was specifically famous for his infamous rapping and self-made songs. Seungcheol, or better known as ‘S.coups’, has a wide range of followers on Soundcloud and was even offered a deal with a record label but he declined, saying he'd accept when he was out of school. Jihoon also had a soundcloud account under the name ‘Woozi’ but his popularity was nowhere near Seungcheol's.

"Yes. That's me. I'm Jihoon— I mean, Woozi," he stammered, hastily standing up and almost knocking off his chair.

Seungcheol glanced at the other boys and swiftly turned back to look at Jihoon in the eye. Soonyoung noticed his lip curling slightly in distaste.

"I listened to some of your songs," he began, making Jihoon's eyes bulge out of their sockets, "and I like them. I want you to make me a song... and I'll even let you sing with me," he said, slowly dragging the words to create a dramatic effect.

Wonwoo and Junhui made eye contact with each other, both passing the same message. 'What a dick.'

Jihoon's heart pounded against his chest. "I—"

Seungcheol raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

He looked at Soonyoung who nodded. "Of course! What an honor. Of course I will!" Jihoon's eyes were practically sparkling.

"Great!" Seungcheol smiled smugly, as if he knew Jihoon would have definitely accepted the offer. "See you. You better make the song good enough for me to sing."

Jihoon nodded furiously and waved him goodbye.

"Oh my god," Jihoon said once Seungcheol was out of sight, sitting down slowly. "What just happened?"

"An asshol—"

Soonyoung nudged Wonwoo in the arm, cutting off whatever he was saying. Jihoon completely ignored them, and surprisingly even abandoned his beloved food.

"I'm making S.coups a song! The S.coups!" Jihoon repeated this sentence again and again as if he couldn't believe it.

"Yes, that's nice. But can we just talk about how much of a douche—" Wonwoo choked when Soonyoung stuffed a spoonful of rice into his mouth.

Junhui looked at the two in amusement. There was never a dull moment when those two were together. "Don't forget us when you're famous," he reminded, smiling.

"Of course not," Jihoon declared.

Soonyoung smiled, but deep down he had a bad feeling about this.

♡

The next few days, Jihoon worked his ass off to make the best song he has ever produced in his entire life. He even neglected his studies. It wasn't that Jihoon was studious in the first place but he always studied before — right before — a test. It was odd that he had forgotten all about the math test. Usually, he would be the one nagging the other boys about it. It was safe to say that this music 'deal' has really turned Jihoon's life upside down.

"Did you even sleep?" Soonyoung asked.

"Yes I did," Jihoon snapped although the dark circles under his eyes said otherwise. "I'm leaving."

Soonyoung watched as Jihoon left his sight. He shoved his hands inside his pocket before bringing out a pair of earphones, Jihoon's specifically. He stared at it and shrugged, putting it back inside his pocket. When did he take that?

The bell rang, cutting him away from his thoughts and he shuffled with the other students to class. When he arrived, as expected, Jihoon was sleeping on his desk, lightly snoring.

Soonyoung sat down on his chair beside Wonwoo's, dropping his bag on the floor. Behind him, Junhui did the same, cocking his head at Jihoon.

"What happened?" Junhui asked, keeping his voice low, careful not to wake up the sleeping boy.

"He hasn't had a wink of sleep," Soonyoung replied, turning his chair around to face Junhui.

"Is it the music deal?" He asked, frowning.

Soonyoung nodded.

"He's working so hard," Wonwoo said, entering the conversation. "He called me last night, asking if I could do a verse for him to see if it sounded good."

Wonwoo was a rapper and he was fucking good at it. Maybe even better than Seungcheol, if Soonyoung dared to say. He'd sometimes help Jihoon rap the lyrics Jihoon wrote to check and see if the flow was any good.

"What's so great about that asshole anyway?" Wonwoo grumbled under his breath. "He just got lucky once."

Soonyoung thought about what he said. In a way, it was partially true. Seungcheol would've never gotten this much fame if it weren't for his most viewed cover; only because some singer Soonyoung knew nothing of commented on his Instagram post.

Fifteen minutes into the lesson and the teacher had yet to come. Students were talking in groups and they were not exactly whispering. It was a wonder Jihoon could sleep through this noise.

He must be so tired, Soonyoung thought, smiling as he looked down at him fondly. Jihoon worked so hard to compose. Maybe that was why he never made a single bad song. Soonyoung felt bad at the thought of him having sleepless nights, staying awake to finish songs just so he could get recognition online and get what he really wanted. It was Jihoon's dream: all he could ever talk about was to be a famous self-composed singer. And Soonyoung genuinely believed he could be one. With that amount of talent at his age and with such little equipment, he was pretty sure Jihoon could do wonders if he was in a company. Maybe that was how Seungcheol could help. With his huge number of followers, he could help Jihoon gain that kind of recognition that he deserved and maybe, just maybe, a record label would offer him a deal. Soonyoung's grin broadened at the thought.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Wonwoo asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Nothing," Soonyoung replied, shaking his head.

Wonwoo shrugged. Soonyoung was always weird that it became normal. "Whatever you say."

The rest of the day at school went by like flash. Soonyoung was now walking home along with Wonwoo, Jihoon and Junhui. Who else would he be walking home with?

Just as they passed the school gate, Wonwoo looked up and stopped walking.

"What are you doing here?"

The three boys stopped as well and turned to look. In front of him was a boy, just slightly taller than Wonwoo. His uniform indicated that he goes to a different school. But Soonyoung already knew that. This boy was Wonwoo's boyfriend, Mingyu. Soonyoung could almost imagine Wonwoo saying, 'he's not my boyfriend'. Well, boyfriend or not, they seemed to have something going on. And it was definitely not platonic at all.

"I came to pick you up." Mingyu pushed himself off of the wall and walked towards them, waving.

"You didn't have to do that," Wonwoo grunted. He tried his best to hide it but Soonyoung could see the tips of his ears turn a light shade of red.

Mingyu pouted, looking like a big puppy. "Let's go."

Wonwoo sighed and let Mingyu drag him away. "Bye guys."

They continued walking until they reached Junhui's stop. Jihoon and Soonyoung bid him goodbye and started to walk again.

"Can you come over?" Jihoon asked. "I need someone's opinion on the song."

Without a doubt, Soonyoung agreed to it and soon enough they were both in Jihoon's room. Soonyoung sat on the bed while Jihoon was stationed at his desk.

Jihoon nervously picked at his nails as he turned on his computer. After a few clicks, the song was playing and the heavy beats resonated across his room.

Soonyoung couldn't lie. He instantly liked it. He never listened to these kinds of song before but he liked this one. Maybe he was being biased because it was Jihoon’s, but he genuinely liked it and he was sure Seungcheol would too.

Once the demo was over, Jihoon looked at him with anticipation with a hint of nervousness. "So, how is it?"

"It's great."

Jihoon couldn't hide the smile that formed across his face. "Serious?"

Soonyoung couldn't help but smile back. He nodded. "Yes, I'm serious."

"Do you think Seungcheol would like it?" Jihoon asked, his voice was unusually soft as if he was unsure.

"He'd be a fool not to."

♡

Soonyoung dropped his bag somewhere on the floor and crouched down on the side of his bed. From under the bed, he brought out a box — a shoe box to be precise — and opened the lid.

Inside the box was miscellaneous things — pictures, bracelets, keychains, pencils and other things.

He took Jihoon's earphones out of his pocket and placed it inside the box, on top of a bundle of pictures. He patted his left pocket and frowned in confusion when he felt a bulge. He slipped his hand inside the pocket and brought out an eraser. Clearly he hadn't noticed he took anything. It was probably from when he was in Jihoon's room. He dropped it inside the box and closed the lid, sliding it back to its original position under his bed.

The box was supposed to be a place to keep Soonyoung's random things, he would call it a memory box. But overtime, it seemed to be overflowing with things he stole — or, took and never got to return. Most of them were Jihoon's. Soonyoung didn't particularly know why. It was probably because unlike his other friends, Wonwoo and Junhui specifically, Jihoon never asked for his things back. He didn't seem to care about Soonyoung taking his things unless it was his food.

Soonyoung sighed as he fell back on his bed. He thought about how happy Jihoon looked when he told him the song was perfectly good. He can't erase that particular smile Jihoon rarely showed from his mind. He could remember the swelling in his heart and the unconscious curl of his own lips.

This time was usually the time he took for himself to think about his thoughts and feelings. About how happy Jihoon made him feel. How Jihoon's eyes turned into crescent moons when he laughed. How grumpy he often got.

And how badly Soonyoung wanted to press his lips against Jihoon's rose coloured lips.

♡

Jihoon was ready. After revising the song and lyrics again and again, he was finally ready to show Seungcheol the song he has been working his ass off for.

So, during lunch break, he mustered up all the courage present in his small body and approached Seungcheol's table. Steps away from the table, he could see the senior's friends sitting around him. He recognised them immediately. Who wouldn't? They were all just like Seungcheol, famous for their incredible singing and rapping.

There was Lee Yejin. A senior, better known as Ailee, who made covers of famous songs on her soundcloud. Her singing was so great and powerful that Seungcheol has her singing in some of his songs. Jihoon couldn't lie. She was really fucking talented and every time he heard her sing, he'd feel goosebumps all across his arms.

Then there was Hansol, or Vernon. Jihoon recalled him as a junior, but even though he was a junior, Jihoon still aspired to be like him. He was a rapper too and his unique style of rapping attracted lots of good attention, including Seungcheol’s. Seungcheol originally didn't like the competition but he decided to add Hansol to his little group and they became the most powerful group that dominated the school. Or that was what they thought, at least.

The group oozed raw talent and power. They were so intimidating that Jihoon gulped as he inched closer towards them.

Seungcheol noticed him and beckoned him to come over.

"Hey," Jihoon said nervously.

Seungcheol smiled and patted the space beside him. Jihoon padded over to Seungcheol's side and sat, ignoring the looks from Hansol and Yejin.

"Hansol, Yejin, this is Woozi," Seungcheol introduced and they nodded as if they were acknowledging his presence.

"Is the song done?" Seungcheol asked, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Jihoon nodded. "It's done. Should I give you the audio file or —"

"I'd like to hear it now," he said firmly.

Jihoon's eyes widened. "Now? Here?"

The senior raised an eyebrow. "Yes, here and now. You must be having it on your phone, right?"

"Oh." Jihoon immediately slipped his hand inside his pocket and brought out his phone, tapping away. "Uh, do you happen to have a pair of earphones? I can't seem to find mine."

Seungcheol rolled his eyes and ruffled inside his bag for a while before taking out his own earphones and quickly plugging it inside Jihoon's phone.

Jihoon fidgeted with his hands as he watched Seungcheol listen to his song. He'd never felt this anxious before. Not even before finals or when the teacher called him out in the class for sleeping and threatened to send him to the principal's office.

The wait was agonising. It was the longest three minutes Jihoon had ever experience in his entire life. He was being too dramatic. Taking in deep breaths, he felt the rapid beating of his heart slow down.

"I like it," Seungcheol declared, taking his earphones out of his ears.

A sense of relief washed over Jihoon and he grinned widely.

"It's fucking amazing. I can't wait to record and upload it. It'll be one of my best songs yet."

Jihoon never felt this happy and excited before. Being complimented by Seungcheol was a big deal. Jihoon had no idea why but what Seungcheol thought mattered a lot to him. And now that Seungcheol actually liked the song, he wouldn't need to have sleepless nights again.

"I'm glad you like it.”

After lunch, Jihoon quickly went to his class to share the good news. His friends were already in their seats, talking. Wonwoo and Soonyoung had their chairs turned to face Junhui.

Jihoon plopped himself down on his seat beside Junhui.

"Where were you?" The boy beside him asked.

"Guess what?" he began, eyes twinkling in excitement.

Soonyoung had his eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"Seungcheol liked the song!" Jihoon exclaimed.

While he was happy for his friend, at the mention of the name, Wonwoo made a disgusted face.

"That's great!" Soonyoung said. "Like I said, he'd be a fool not to."

No one argued because everyone knew. Jihoon had never made a bad song.

♡

"Where is Jihoon?" Junhui seated himself down as he asked his two friends.

"Probably with ass-coups," Wonwoo replied, snorting.

Soonyoung nudged him in the arm but he laughed. Junhui chuckled.

"That's unfortunate. He won't be looking at my beautiful face." Junhui sighed as he rested his chin on the palm of his hand, elbow on his desk.

"How unlucky."

The three looked up at the newcomer.

"There you are," Soonyoung said. "I was about to file a missing report," he laughed, his eyes turning into slits.

Jihoon rolled his eyes, leaning back against his chair.

"So, how is it?" Soonyoung took the pleasure of asking the question.

"How is what?"

Wonwoo rolled his eyes. "Don't act stupid. You know what we're talking about. How's the song?"

Jihoon's blank face turned into an excited one, mouth curling up to form a grin and eyes turning to semicircles. "It's going great. The song is done and it's being uploaded today. I'm so excited!"

It was rare to see Jihoon in such an upbeat mood. He was usually so dark and annoyed all the time. Soonyoung took his time to bask in Jihoon's glory.

"Great. I'll be sure to check it out," Junhui commented, giving Jihoon a thumbs up.

"I'm a bit nervous though," Jihoon admitted. "What if people don't like it?"

"Why wouldn't people like it?" Soonyoung chimed in.

"I haven't heard the song and I already like it," Wonwoo declared. "Just because you made it. I don't really care for what's his face," he waved his hand around.

Jihoon smiled genuinely at his friends. "Thanks guys."

Wonwoo curled his fingers. "Stop being so mushy. It's so disgusting."

"You're one to talk," Soonyoung muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Soonyoung ignored him. "Anyway, don't need to thank us. It's what we're supposed to do."

"Thanks, Soonyoung. You guys are the best friends anyone could ask for."

Soonyoung forced a smile. "Right. That's what friends are for."

Friends.

He felt a tug on his heartstrings.

That was all they'd ever be and nothing more.

At exactly eight in the evening, Soonyoung sat behind his laptop as he waited for the release of Seungcheol and Jihoon's duet song.

Wonwoo was on his bed, playing his phone. Texting Mingyu, Soonyoung had guessed.

"It's up. It's up! Wonwoo!"

The two sat behind the computer as they wait for the audio to load. Soonyoung clicked the small heart in the corner before the song even started playing. The circle in the middle of the screen was going around slowly. Wonwoo clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Soonyoung sighed. “It always does th—“

He was interrupted by the sudden sound of beats thumping coming from his laptop. As expected from Jihoon, the lyrics matched the song perfectly and it was hard to admit but Seungcheol’s rapping was so smooth and his voice complimented Jihoon’s sweet voice.

It was a masterpiece. All of Jihoon’s sleepless nights and sleeping in class definitely paid off.

“Wow,” Wonwoo breathed out once the song was over.

Soonyoung nodded in agreement, biting his lip so that he wouldn’t ruin the moment with a horrible pun. He clicked the replay button. Again and again until Wonwoo decided it was time to go home. He bid Soonyoung goodbye and walked out of the room, swinging his bag over his shoulders.

A few minutes later, he returned, eyes sharp and narrowed at Soonyoung. He put out his hand and demanded, “My keys.”

Soonyoung grinned sheepishly as he dug inside his pocket and brought out Wonwoo’s keys before throwing it at the taller boy. He watched him walk out of his room for the second time before he continuing to break the replay button.

Just a few hundred meters away from Soonyoung, Jihoon too sat behind his computer, eyes never leaving the screen.

5000

5017

5032

5058

He watched with widened eyes as the numbers go up rapidly. The last time he opened it before the song was released, it was in the two thousands and now he has twice the amount. That was S.coups’ impact.

Even his Instagram, which he never used (he made a mental note to start using it again), had gained a few hundred followers. Probably because S.coups was kind enough to give him a follow and a mention when he announced the release of the duet.

Jihoon was slowly getting there.

♡

“Jihoon!”

He searched around for the voice calling his name, surprised to see Seungcheol calling him that and not his usual Woozi.

“Yeah?” Jihoon said, a little louder than his normal voice.

“Come sit with us at lunch!” Seungcheol replied, gesturing to his two other companions.

Jihoon eyes widened and he quickly nodded before Seungcheol could change his mind. The senior smiled in satisfaction before leaving Jihoon’s sight.

“So you won’t be sitting with us during lunch?”

Jihoon almost jumped, turning around to give Soonyoung a dirty look. “Just for today.”

Soonyoung pouted. “Dang, whose fries am I going to steal from?”

He rolled his eyes. “Go bother Wonwoo instead.”

“Excuse me?”

This time Jihoon actually jumped at the sound of Wonwoo’s sour tone. He quickly turned around to give the latter the same dirty look he gave Soonyoung.

“And this is why Junhui’s my favourite,” Wonwoo declared.

“What’d I miss?”

Jihoon hissed. “Can you people stop popping up like that?”

Jun shot him a sheepish look and chuckled. “Sorry. Didn’t you know you’d be shocked.”

Just as Jihoon was about to retort, two girls came up to him. They were both shorter than him, much to his delight.

“Woozi, right?” The one with the shorter hair asked.

The three boys watched in amusement as Jihoon nodded. A faint blush could be seen on his cheeks. It was fair to say that Jihoon had no experience whatsoever in this field at all.

The girl’s eyes brightened. “You’re the one who sang in S.coups’ song, right?”

Jihoon chuckled nervously. “That would be me.”

“The song is so good! And I thought Ailee’s voice complimented S.coups’ voice but yours is by far the best!”

The other girl with the curly hair nodded in agreement. “I’ve been listening to it nonstop.”

Jihoon was speechless. He didn’t realise people would actually like the song, not to mention his voice. “Thank you,” he replied softly.

“As usual, S.coups is a genius!”

Wonwoo frowned at that. “What do you mean?”

The girl raised an eyebrow. “Well, he wrote the song, didn’t he? And the lyrics are so wonderful!”

Soonyoung felt himself clench his fists. “Actually—“

Jihoon looked at him and shook his head. Soonyoung gulped down his words and nodded.

“Yeah, it was written well, wasn’t it?” Jihoon said, smiling.

The two girls nodded in unison, looking like bobbleheads. “Well, we look forward to more songs from you both,” one of them exclaimed before they both ran off, giggling.

“What an asshole,” Junhui declared.

“I knew it from the start.” Wonwoo spat out, folding his arms against his chest.

“It’s fine. They didn’t know,” Jihoon waved it off as if it was no big deal. But to Soonyoung, it was. Jihoon wasn’t getting credit for what he did and S.coups was getting all the credit for what he did not do; it was unfair.

“But—“ Soonyoung protested.

Jihoon shook his head. “It’s fine,” he repeated. “I’m headed to class.”

He left, leaving the three boys on their own cursing the senior.

“I knew he was an asshole but I didn’t think he’d stoop that low,” Wonwoo muttered under his breath.

“Maybe they just assumed he wrote it,” Soonyoung tried to reason out.

“Still, it’s unfair,” Junhui said.

“Do you reckon we should start a fight?” Wonwoo asked, a hint of humour in his tone.

Junhui let out a laugh but Soonyoung, on the other hand, shook his head in disapproval. He could just imagine the look on Jihoon’s face if he found out what they had done to Seungcheol.

Wonwoo’s playful smirk faltered to a frown at Soonyoung’s serious face.

“We’ll get Jihoon into trouble.”

“I was just joking,” Wonwoo muttered childishly, his bottom lip slightly sticking out.

Soonyoung rolled his eyes.

All their fun was interrupted by the bell that resonated across the hallway. The three walked to their class, shuffling here and there because of the crowd.

During lunch, Jihoon followed Seungcheol timidly behind him to the senior’s table. When they arrived, Hansol and Yejin were already present, both on their phones tapping away.

The sound of Seungcheol dropping his tray on the table made them look up from their devices. Yejin’s eyes seemed to slightly brighten at the sight of Jihoon who squirmed, uncomfortable at the attention.

“Woozi! The song is beautiful!” She exclaimed, leaning forward.

Jihoon felt his cheeks heat up and he smiled in return.

Even though he wrote the most meaningful and amazing lyrics, Jihoon found himself struggling to express his thoughts as words in a conversation.

Seungcheol had started to eat so Jihoon quickly did the same. Besides Yejin’s constant rambling on what song she was planning to do next, the table was otherwise silent. It was unusual to Jihoon. With Soonyoung, Junhui and Wonwoo, there was never a quiet moment, they were always in a banter about something. Jihoon would sometimes jump into conversations because he felt comfortable enough. Here, it was different.

“My notifications have been clogged up with constant requests telling me to do New Rules by Dua Lipa but I don’t really like the song,” she said, her tone going upwards towards the end making it sound like a question. “And anyways, it’s not my style,” she shrugged.

“You should do No Tears Left To Cry or Never Be The Same,” Hansol spoke up, earphones still plugged in his ear that Jihoon wondered how he heard everything Yejin just said.

“And why the english songs?” Yejin asked pointedly.

“English songs garner more attention because of their popularity. You don’t have to like the song, Yejin,” Seungcheol said, “Just sing, record it, post it and watch your followers go up.”

Jihoon listened quietly. Sitting here was a good idea. He could get tips from Seungcheol who definitely knew all the tactics on becoming popular on Soundcloud.

Yejin let out a delighted noise, causing the three boys to look at her. “I just had the most brilliant idea!” she squealed.

Hansol furrowed his eyebrows. “What is it?”

“You guys won’t even believe what I came up with!”

Seungcheol rolled his eyes. “Just spit it out.”

“Why don’t we. . . “ She trailed off for a dramatic effect, “have Woozi write us a song,” she exclaimed. “And all four of us can sing. I mean, you and Hansol rap and Woozi and I will sing but you get the point.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened at the idea. She wanted him to. . . write them a song? Holy shit. That was big.

“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Hansol said quietly, looking at Seungcheol carefully for his approval.

He lips were stretched in a line as the three looked at him. Then, they curved all of a sudden. “Let’s do it!”

Yejin cheered. “Told you my idea was brilliant.”

“You don’t mind, do you?” Seungcheol asked Jihoon but the way he said it made it sound as if Jihoon had no other choice but to agree. He was going to accept anyways, not like Jihoon was stupid enough to decline such a request.

“I’ll do my best,” he replied.

Seungcheol looked satisfied with the answer.

“Thanks Woozi!”

Jihoon smiled warmly. “Call me Jihoon.”

♡

Soonyoung hated being alone. He despised it. It made him uncomfortable -- especially when all the haunting thoughts start to circle around his head. He tried his best to always avoid being isolated. So when his parents decided to leave him and his sister for a coworker’s farewell party and his sister decided to sneak out to her boyfriend’s house, he went to reside in Jihoon’s place until his parents came home.

But maybe it was a bad idea.

“Seungcheol was so cool about it too!”

Soonyoung forced a smile. “Yeah?”

Jihoon nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! Can you believe it? I’m writing them another song! Hansol, Yejin and Seungcheol. All three of them!”

Soonyoung frowned. “Hansol?”

“Vernon! And Yejin is Ailee.”

“Oh. You’re on first name basis now?” Soonyoung asked wryly.

Jihoon didn’t seem to have noticed his tone as he replied, “Yeah! Isn’t that cool?”

‘What exactly happened in that one lunch break?’ Soonyoung thought to himself.

“Oh! It’s your birthday this friday,” Jihoon exclaimed out of nowhere.

Soonyoung’s face morphed into one of confusion.

“Don’t tell me you forgot,” Jihoon deadpanned.

“I didn’t forget. I just didn’t remember,” Soonyoung replied with a chuckle.

Jihoon narrowed his eyes at him as he crinkled his nose in disbelief; disbelief at Soonyoung’s incredibly lame attempt at a joke.

“I’m expecting something big as a present,” Soonyoung said in a teasing tone, grinning.

“Yes.” Jihoon sighed. “Nothing but the best for the prince,” he said the last word in a mocking tone. “Anyways,” Jihoon spoke up after a couple of silent seconds. “We’re still on for jajangmyeon right?”

There was a tradition between the four boys that no matter what happened, every time one of them had a birthday, they would go to this small restaurant near their school, a midpoint in between all their houses and eat jajangmyeon together. Maybe a glass of soju or more. Courtesy of the other three. They’d talk and talk between slurps of the sticky noodles, washing it down with cold soju.

Soonyoung nodded. “Of course. You’ll be there right?”

“Definitely,” Jihoon said in a ‘duh’ tone. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

♡

“Happy Birthday, Soonyoungie!”

The lump beneath the blanket grumbled in annoyance and pulled his blanket up even further to cover his face. The grip on his blanket tightened as someone tried to take it away from him.

“Soonyoung! You have to wake up. It’s your birthday!”

“And you have school.”

The voices were loud and annoyingly familiar. He recognised all of them.

He yelped as the blanket was pulled away from him, exposing his bare skin to the cool air. Once he was awake enough to open his eyes, he glared at the three idiots he called his friends who were all standing on the foot of the bed.

“Happy Birthday!” They chorused together. An excited one from Junhui, an amused one from Wonwoo and a deadpan one from Jihoon.

The three anticipated the next words to fall out of his mouth; his first words after turning eighteen.

“Where can I sign up to find new friends? You guys are annoying.”

Junhui gasped dramatically.

To say the least, Soonyoung was definitely not a morning person.

At school, Soonyoung gets showered with birthday wishes. From teachers to people he barely knew. He was just that friendly with everyone.

During Biology, Jihoon excused himself to go to the restroom. And to his utter surprise, as he entered the male’s bathroom, he heard someone say:

“Oh, Jihoon! We were just talking about you.”

Jihoon’s eyes flitted to the side, widening when he saw Yejin sitting beside the sinks.

“Me?”

Seungcheol nodded. “Are you done with the song?”

Jihoon paused in hesitation for a moment. “It’s done. I just need to revise it. It’s not perfect y—“

Seungcheol smiled. “Great! We were thinking to start recording soon. Today, specifically. But since the song isn’t done, you can come over and we can work on it together and maybe we can start recording.”

A frown grew on Jihoon’s lips. “Today?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? You can’t?” Yejin asked, face mirroring Jihoon’s.

“It’s Soo- my friend’s birthday.”

Seungcheol raised a hand and waved it around. “It’ll be fine. We’ll try to finish up early and you can go to your little party after we’re done.”

“Are you sure? I don’t wanna rush you guys.”

Seungcheol rolled his eyes. “I told you it’ll be fine. We’ll meet you after school in the parking lot, okay?”

Jihoon found himself nodding before leaving the restroom.

As he returned to his classroom, he realised he’d never gone to take a piss.

He sighed and tried his best to walk as slow as he could to class, dragging his feet and scanning the boards on the wall he sees every time he passes the hallways. Soon enough, he reached the class and entered quietly.

Soomyoung noticed the troubled look on his face and asked him what was wrong with a tilt of his head. Jihoon quickly shook his head. Soonyoung didn’t look convinced but he dropped the matter.

At lunch, Jihoon sat with his friends and he noticed how much he missed sitting with them as Soonyoung and Wonwoo bickered while Junhui snickered on his side. He never laughed this much with Seungcheol and his friends. The atmosphere was always so tense and Jihoon was always so quiet, only talking when someone was talking to him. With his friends, he allowed himself to laugh his ass off, his head tilting back and eyes closed shut before saying something snarky to Wonwoo without feeling uncomfortable.

Jihoon walked back to class with Soonyoung on his side when lunch ended. Junhui and Wonwoo were in a heated discussion behind them.

“Hey,” Jihoon spoke up softly. “I’ll be going to Seungcheol’s house for a while. I’ll meet you there, okay?”

Soonyoung found it was very hard to hide his frown but he forced a smile for Jihoon. “Okay.”

“You’re not mad, are you?”

Soonyoung turned to face him with a smile on his face. “Of course, I’m not. I know how important this is for you.”

Jihoon beamed. “Thanks, Soonyoung. Gosh, I don’t deserve you.”

Soonyoung felt himself go warm. Jihoon would never know the impact he had on Soonyoung. He could tell Soonyoung to kiss his feet and Soonyoung would. Not because he had a foot fetish or anything. . .

God, he wanted to kiss Jihoon so badly.

“Order one jajangmyeon and one bowl of -“

“Rice. Of course. I can never imagine you eating anything without rice.”

“I’ll come as fast as I can,” Jihoon promised.

And deep in Soonyoung’s heart, he wished Jihoon would keep the promise.

♡

“Welcome to my humble abode.”

Hansol dropped his jacket on the sofa which Yejin threw herself over.

Jihoon stayed behind to marvel over the house. He knew Seungcheol was rich but he didn’t know he was that rich. His house was massive. It towered over the other houses. The inside was just as grand as the outside. A lot of white and cream and beige.

“Let’s go to the studio.” Seungcheol’s voice was loud and full of authority.

Jihoon swore his jaw almost dropped. He had a studio in his house?

Yejin and Hansol went to wherever the studio was, leaving the two behind.

“You have a studio here?” Jihoon asked, following Seungcheol when he beckoned him over.

Seungcheol shrugged. “It’s nothing much. Just something my dad put together for me.”

The studio was cozy and warm. The walls were soft and fuzzy and the floor was carpeted, smooth against the soles of Jihoon’s feet. There was a wall dividing the room in half and a huge glass in the middle to see the person recording inside.

Jihoon connected his laptop with the Seungcheol’s help who seemed to know what every button was for while Jihoon barely knew what that big red button in the centre was or any other button for that matter. In no time at all, they were ready to start recording. First up was Yejin.

Seungcheol sat on the chair in front of the table with the machines and all the technical stuff. Jihoon and Hansol sat on the red sofa pushed against the wall. Hansol was scrolling through his phone but Jihoon’s gotten used to that by now. Though he doesn’t know for sure if he’s actually paying attention to what they’re talking about.

Lyrics were already written by Jihoon and they were printed on the paper Yejin was reading from on the stand. The rap parts were written by Seungcheol and Hansol. There were a lot Jihoon wanted to suggest for their lyrics but he was too afraid to speak up. They were incredibly intimidating.

“Are you ready?” Seungcheol spoke to the mic and Yejin from the other side of the room nodded and gave them a thumbs up.

The song played and Yejin sang. Jihoon felt the hairs on his arms stand up and shivers down his spine. The song wasn’t a powerful ballad or anything like that, but Jihoon could still hear the talent in her voice. It was like honey - sweet and smooth.

Seungcheol had her change the tone for some parts and he even turned around to face Jihoon and asked, “Was that okay? Anything that you would like to change? Anything that you would like to suggest?”

Jihoon shook his head. “No. That was perfect.”

Seungcheol smiled and for the first time, Jihoon could see the passion in his eyes. Something he admired Seungcheol for. It was clear he really liked what he did and he was really good at it. For the first time, Jihoon didn’t find him intimidating like he usually did. He saw them alike, both of them having passion for what they do best.

Yejin exited the room with a huge smile on her face. Next up was Hansol and he entered the room and stood at the exact spot Yejin was standing on just a few minutes ago. He had his phone propped up on the stand with what Jihoon assumed were lyrics he wrote.

When the song started, Hansol was gone with the bored attitude he usually put on and in with the amazingly talented rapper who put nothing but emotions into his rapping. His flow was great and his additions of English phrases really made the song all the better.

Seungcheol stopped the song to tell Hansol what he could change to make his part better. Jihoon looked at the time on his phone and was assured that he could make it in time. He’d ask Seungcheol if he could be next but he didn’t want to disturb him. Not when he looked so serious with his eyebrows furrowed and headphones blocking the sounds around him.

Jihoon sat and listened to Seungcheol’s directing and Hansol’s rapping as he waited for his turn.

“I’ll go next. Jihoon, can you help me?”

“Sure,” Jihoon replied, standing up even though he knew nothing at all.

“So, if you need to tell me something, you press this button and to record and stop you press these buttons.”

That seemed easy enough. Jihoon nodded and sat down on the seat Seungcheol previously sat on. Seungcheol entered the room and gave him a thumbs up through the glass.

Seungcheol was. . . different. Instead of the confident leader he was, it seemed as though he was insecure or rather unsatisfied or unsure with himself.

“Again,” Seungcheol said for the third time.

Jihoon wanted to tell him it sounded fine, more than fine actually but he didn’t want to risk seeing him get even more angry and frustrated. He seemed too annoyed at himself as it is.

After two more times, Seungcheol was satisfied and called Jihoon inside. Jihoon entered the room and he looked up at the clock on the wall.

He was not going to make it.

♡

“Where’s Jihoon?”

Soonyoung’s frown deepened as he stared at the wooden table. He was poking and swirling his bowl of noodles, eyes shifting to the already cold bowls of jajangmyeon and rice.

“No idea,” Wonwoo responded, “I’ll call him.”

Soonyoung lifted his head up to look at Wonwoo hopefully. Wonwoo frowned. “No answer. Sorry, Soonyoung.”

“That’s okay.”

He didn’t sound okay.

Junhui shot Wonwoo a worried look as Soonyoung grabbed the green bottle and cracked it open with his bare hands before drinking big gulps of the soju. There were droplets spilling from the sides of his mouth.

“Slow down.”

It didn’t take long for Soonyoung to get drunk. Wonwoo and Junhui had stayed sober - only slightly drunk - from the worry. They’d seen Soonyoung drunk plenty of times but this time, he was acting different. Usually, he’d be giggling his ass off but now he just seemed depressed and emotional.

“No more.”

His lower lip shook and Wonwoo rolled his eyes at his dramatic friend, snatching the bottle away from him anyway.

“Jihoon,” Soonyoung sobbed, burying his head into his hands.

“Oh boy.”

“Jihoon didn’t come.”

“Soonyoung,” Junhui said, alarmed at his sudden change of mood. “Jihoon probably lost track of time. It’s okay. He’ll come.”

“I doubt it,” Wonwoo muttered under his breath, earning a shove from Junhui.

“You guys aren’t Jihoon,” Soonyoung mumbled.

“What do you mean by that?” Wonwoo asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Jihoon is. . . he’s different.”

“Soonyoung. What do you mean by that?” Wonwoo repeated, ignoring the confused look on Junhui’s face.

“I like Jihoon,” Soonyoung confessed, words slurred but still understandable. Understandable enough that Junhui’s eyes widened.

Wonwoo sighed, a small smile curling up his lips. “Finally, you told us. Granted, drunk but still—“

“What do you mean finally? You knew and you didn’t bother telling me?” Junhui exclaimed, voice filled with betrayal.

“I wasn’t too sure.”

“Anyways, there you have it. You guys know now. My deepest, darkest secret,” Soonyoung said, lifting his head up.

“Oh, Soonyoung.”

Long after they had paid the bill and when the owner started shooting their group looks of annoyance, Junhui and Wonwoo brings Soonyoung home, hands slung over the taller boys’ shoulders. Along the way, Soonyoung mumbled incoherent words but the other boys knew well it was all about Jihoon.

When they reached Soonyoung’s quaint house, they spotted a familiar shape of head, round and brown in colour, sitting in front of the door.

Jihoon looked up at the sound and stood up immediately. Junhui and Wonwoo shared looks, as if holding a silent conversation.

“We’ll leave you two to talk,” Wonwoo said quietly.

“No,” Soonyoung whined. “Don’t leave me.” He pulled on Junhui’s collar.

“Woah. Soonyoung, you’ll be fine. You’ll thank us later,” Junhui assured, prying off his hands.

Before Soonyoung could pull any of their shirts again they were already walking away from the house, leaving Jihoon and Soonyoung alone.

“Hey, Soonyoung,” Jihoon greeted. Soonyoung frowned. He sounded a bit nervous. That was weird. Jihoon was never nervous. Well, not towards Soonyoung or any of his other friends for that matter.

“Hi, Jihoon,” he mumbled in return, fidgeting with the object in his hands, refusing to look at the shorter boy in the eyes.

He looked down at his hands and found himself looking at a card; a student ID that read Wen Junhui.

“You should probably return that,” Jihoon said softly.

“I know,” Soonyoung replied, shoving it inside the back pocket of his trousers. He tried to walk towards the door, closer to Jihoon but unfortunately, he stumbled and if it weren’t for Jihoon, he’d be making out with the floor already.

Jihoon caught a whiff of Soonyoung and frowned. “Are you drunk?”

“Maybe.”

“Figures.”

And if it weren’t for the dimly lit street lights, Jihoon would’ve probably noticed ages ago from the bright red Soonyoung’s face was sporting.

“Look, Soonyoung. I don’t want to beat around the bush. I came here to apologise. I’m such a fuck up,” Jihoon groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and hitting his head with his palm.

“Hey. It’s okay. I knew how important it is to you,” Soonyoung replied and Jihoon felt the guilt bubble up him.

“Even when drunk you’re super nice,” he muttered. He raised his voice, “No. Soonyoung. I should have told Seungcheol no.”

“It’s done and over with now, Hoon. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

The air around them was quiet and painful. Only the sound of the night sky and the rush of Soonyoung’s heart.

“You should probably go home,” Soonyoung slurred when Jihoon didn’t answer. “It’s already late and I don’t want to see you turn into some kind of monster tomorrow morning,” he joked, trying to lighten up the heavy mood. Jihoon smiled slightly.

“Wait. Let me give you my present. Inside,” he added.

The two entered the house silently, careful as to not wake anyone up. They tiptoed up the stairs and closed the door behind them to Soonyoung’s comfortable room.

“I wrote you a song.”

Soonyoung paused, mind going haywire, blood rushing inside him and the alcohol inside his system multiplied his feelings tripled the amount.

“A song?”

“Yes. It’s not a song you can dance to but it’s still a song I wrote for you. The song tells you everything you need to know and how I feel about you,” Jihoon rambled, face turning red when he realised what he said. “Ugh. Just listen to the damn song.”

Jihoon handed him his phone and Soonyoung shuffled around for a pair of earphones, reaching under his bed for the box, pulling the tangled, jumbled mess of earphones out.

“So that’s where my earphones have been.”

“Do you want them back?”

“Just keep them.”

“I’ll buy you new ones.”

Soonyoung plugged the earphones into the jack and played the song. When the song played, he was a goner. The lyrics were so beautiful and it still boggles his mind how this song was from him. The lyrics were directed to him. And from Jihoon.

The light and gentle tune, with a hint of sadness in it, combined with the heavy, emotional lyrics was a combination which threw Soonyoung’s emotions over the edge. He felt goosebumps rise on his arms and shivers down the back of his spine. A big, fat tear slid down Soonyoung’s cheeks and Jihoon bit his lip nervously. Soonyoung took the earphones out of his ears.

“How was it?”

I love it.

I love it.

I love it.

I love you.

“Jihoon,” Soonyoung blurted out. “I love you.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened and his mouths opened and closed like a fish in air trying to get a gulp of water.

Fuck it.

“I love you, Jihoon. And not as a friend. I love you in a way that I want to kiss the daylights out of you.”

Jihoon blinked again and again. Enough for Soonyoung to grow nervous, the anxiety building up inside him.

“Hey, Soonyoung?” Jihoon said after a while, making Soonyoung’s heart slam hard against his ribcage. “I love you too.”

Without thinking, he leaned forwards and pressed his lips against Jihoon’s. Jihoon made a noise of surprise before leaning his body forward and kissing him back with his entire being. Finally. Jihoon lips were as soft as he imagined and he felt everything around him disappear. He forgot everything, including the song coming out faintly from his earphones on a repeat.

  
Because we’re together, I’m able to smile  
And because it’s you, I’m able to cry  
Like this, how could there be anything I can’t do  
Whenever, wherever, even if we’re unable to be together  
We will, like we always have, have smiles blossom  
I will become the spring to your smiles

  
♡

The following day, Soonyoung was out of the world. First, he was late to school, then instead of his usual chatty self, he’d lay his head on the table. It was like he wasn’t even there. He had his (Jihoon’s) earphones plugged in the whole day, the song Jihoon wrote for him on a loop and it never stopped. Not even in class. He even got into trouble for it when the teacher called him out but when she turned back to face the board, he discretely plugged it into one of his ears, covering it with the palm of his hand.

Wonwoo waved a hand in front of Soonyoung’s dazed face. “We lost him,” Wonwoo said when he didn’t respond. “It’s the hangover, isn’t it?”

“Soonyoung!” Junhui called, shaking his friend.

Almost immediately, he pulled the earphones from his ears, narrowing his eyes at Junhui as if he had just done something terrible. “What?”

“What’s gotten into you?” Wonwoo questioned, hand reaching out to take one of the buds to put into his ear when Soonyoung slapped his hand away. The taller boy raised an eyebrow at his actions. “Calm down. I’m just trying to see what the big fuss was about.”

“What are you listening to?” Junhui asked, folding his hands on top of the desk and leaning forward.

Soonyoung’s eyes turned to Jihoon who turned pink at the attention he was receiving. This didn’t go unnoticed by the other two.

“Wait a minute,” Wonwoo spoke slowly, as if he just figured out something. “Did you two fuck?”

“What?” Jihoon shrieked, making half the people in the room look at him but being the person he was, he ignored all their weird stares. “Absolutely not. What are you thinking?”

Soonyoung’s mouth flapped open and close like a fish, cheeks turning red. Suddenly, an image formed on his mind and he tried his best to not think about it but it was proving hard to do. Especially when he looked at Jihoon’s flushed face right across from him. For a second, his headache disappeared.

Wonwoo shrugged. “Just a guess.”

“Did you two at least make up?”

“You mean make out?”

As if automatically, Soonyoung raised his hand and swung it forward to hit Wonwoo on the arm. A satisfying sound could be heard and Wonwoo smirked at Soonyoung’s clearly flustered actions. “Am I right?”

“No, you’re not!”

“Then what happened?”

If he could, Soonyoung would scream from the top of the mountains that finally his unrequited love wasn’t so unrequited anymore. He wanted to tell everyone that Jihoon was finally his and his friends seemed to be the best place to start. He wasn’t scared about any judgement. His friends already knew about his feelings for Jihoon anyway. But he wasn’t gonna fuck anything up after finding out his feelings were reciprocated. Even if that meant asking Jihoon for permission ‘cause it’d be a pretty dick move on his part if he did it without Jihoon giving him the go sign.

So he glanced at Jihoon again, his eyes doing all the talking. Jihoon bit his lower lip in hesitation. Soonyoung’s lips curved into a huge smile when Jihoon nodded. “We made up. And we’re dating now.”

“That’s great. I’m so happy for you both.” Junhui smiled at them but the smile did not quite reach his eyes. Wonwoo looked at him worriedly but Junhui shook his head.

“Right. It was so tiring watching Soonyoung follow you everywhere like a puppy,” Wonwoo chimed in immediately.

Soonyoung scowled, folding his arms as if none of it was true (which it was). “I’m not the one dating the human embodiment of a puppy.”

The colour red appeared on Wonwoo’s cheeks and it went all the way up to the tips of his ears. “Shut up,” he grumbled, looking down at his empty tray in an attempt to hide his obvious blush.

“And Junhui,” Soonyoung began, wiggling his eyebrows. Junhui rolled his eyes.

“Jun’s dating someone?” Jihoon asked.

“When you were busy ditching us-“

“Hey!” Jihoon protested but Wonwoo ignored him.

“Junhui went to this dance class-“

“This sexy dance class,” Soonyoung added, sending a smirk at the elder boy.

“And he met a dancer with ‘a face as pretty as cherry blossoms and dance moves as fluid as water.’” Wonwoo continued, making his deep voice slightly higher to mock at the blushing Chinese boy.

“What’s his name?”

Soonyoung laughed and Junhui sent him a glare. “Get this. He doesn’t know anything about the dancer. Not even a name.”

“Damn. Well, tough luck, Jun. Maybe you’ll see him again if you return to the dance class?”

Junhui groaned as he entered the class, immediately slumping down on his seat and burying his head in his hands. The others followed him and sat down at their respective seats.

“The huge problem is that the dance class moves to a different city every month and the class Junhui attended was the last class here. Junhui’s really out of luck,” Soonyoung explained, sympathetically rubbing Junhui’s back.

“Don’t worry, Jun! If he went to the class in Seoul, he probably lives somewhere near here. Who knows, maybe you’ll see him in a convenience store.”

“Or in a café,” Soonyoung chimed in.

“Or in a bathroom. That way you can-“

Right before Soonyoung could cover his seat mate’s mouth with his palm, the teacher entered the classroom to save the day. But that thought was almost immediately thrown out of the window once she introduced what they were going to do for class that day. The one thing every student dreaded.

“Good afternoon, class! I was thinking we should change seating arrangements.”

Junhui’s luck must have seemed to turn upside down to his absolute luck, because he got paired up with Wonwoo. Jihoon, on the other hand, not so much. His seatmate was the most talkative girl in class. And considering the amount of talking she does, Jihoon would definitely not be able to sleep anymore in class. Soonyoung’s partner was someone who rarely showed up to class so there wasn’t really an opinion about it. To say the least, they were upset. From being able to just turn their chairs back to talk, they have now been reduced to looking at each other across the room just to make eye contact.

“This sucks,” Soonyoung grumbled under his breath, lower lip childishly jutting out.

“She probably moved you ‘cause you talk too much,” Junhui said as they walked outside the school.

They immediately squinted as the rays of the sun temporarily blinded them. The temperature increased as they left the cool air-conditioned building and joined the other students under the bright sky. The air was getting even more humid day by day, signalling the incoming summer.

After a minute of discussion on the spot, they ended up in the jajangmyeon place they frequently visited. It brought back gloomy memories from just yesterday when the three were sat together and Soonyoung was drowning in sadness. But now, Soonyoung was anything but sad, a huge grin on his face and Jihoon right beside him. It was a wonder how he could keep that smile on his face with the pounding headache he must be sporting.

They ordered without a single glance at the menu, already knowing it by heart. Their voices filled the place with only four of them present because obviously no one in their right mind would eat at this odd time. But no matter what the sky looked like outside, the four boys remained the same, never changing for anyone else, throwing their head back in laughter without a care in the world.

When the bowls of piping hot noodles - and some rice too, courtesy of Jihoon, of course - were placed on the table, they grew silent, only opening their mouths to place the delicious food inside and to give out short remarks. Otherwise, no words were exchange and the only sounds that filled the air were the slurps of sticky noodles and gulps of tea free of charge. No alcohol, this time, Soonyoung had enough.

The bill came and just as they were about to take their wallets out, Jihoon interrupted them.

“I’ll pay. I’m sorry for ditching you guys last night. If I had known I wouldn’t make it in time, I wouldn’t have gone.”

“It’s okay,” Junhui said, “we forgive you. Don’t beat yourself up over it, alright?”

“Yeah, what he said. And what idiot would say no to free jajangmyeon.” Wonwoo grinned.

They stayed for another hour talking just about everything, sometimes reminiscing the past before going home together.

♡

“Hey, can I borrow your charger?”

If it were any other person in the room asking, it wouldn’t even be half as weird but coming from Jihoon, it was so unusual Soonyoung raised an eyebrow.

It wasn’t even lunch yet.

“Here you go.”

Jihoon beamed, taking the charger from Junhui and going to the back of the room to plug it in. He then proceeded to sit on the floor beside the outlet, laughing for a while before clicking away on his phone.

“What’s up with him?”

“It’s not that weird,” Junhui replied. The three were still staring at their friend.

“Yeah. But it’s Jihoon. He barely touches his phone in school. He says it ruins his concentration,” Wonwoo said, bringing his hands up to make air quotes.

It got even weirder when the teacher entered the room and Jihoon quickly unplugged his phone from the charger. Soonyoung’s pretty sure his phone isn’t fully charged yet. What was so important that Jihoon seemed to be hanging to his phone for dear life. Soonyoung looked at Jihoon from across the room. He had his head bowed down in a very obvious manner. He was lucky the teacher didn’t care what happened in the class.

As if he knew he was being watched, Jihoon lifted up his head and made eye contact with Soonyoung. Soonyoung’s smile quickly turned into a pout when Jihoon ignored him.

At the lunch table, Soonyoung leaned to Jihoon’s side to take a peek on his phone. He was in a chatting application, which Soonyoung had already guessed. A group chat under the subject ‘Q&A’.

“What’s ‘Q&A’?” Soonyoung asked loudly.

“It’s a group chat of Seungcheol, Hansol, Yejin and I,” Jihoon replied, eyes not leaving his phone.

Soonyoung felt a bitter taste at the tip of his tongue so he grabbed his glass of milk and gulped it down. As he was placing the glass down on the table, his eyes flitted over to Jihoon who had a smile on his face. Unconsciously, Soonyoung’s lips started to curl up as well and he reached under the table to intertwine their hands together.

Jihoon didn’t look his way but the way the younger didn’t pull his hand away and instead gripped Soonyoung’s hand made him knew that the smile he had at that time wasn’t because of his phone. Soonyoung felt something in his heart tingle.

“Gross.”

“Thanks,” Soonyoung deadpanned, looking at his friend with an annoyed look on his face. “You ruined the moment.”

Chimes of the bell resonated around the high ceilings of the room and the sound of the chair scraping against the floor was prominent.

“No. That did,” Wonwoo said, pointing upwards.

Soonyoung rolled his eyes. Much to his deep disappointment, he had to let go of Jihoon’s hand. It was long forgotten after school when Jihoon had let him grip his hand under the blazing sun, but not before looking around for anyone present. Jihoon wasn’t comfortable enough with the idea of going public and Soonyoung respected that. That didn’t stop him from taking full advantage of the situation and wrapping his arms around the smaller boy, nuzzling the back of his head every now and then. Jihoon didn’t look amused by his clingy boyfriend but the colour on his cheeks proved otherwise.

Soonyoung was on cloud nine and there was no way he’d be going back down. And Jihoon felt the exact same way.

Everything was looking up for Jihoon. The next day marked the release of the collaboration with Hansol, Seungcheol and Yejin and he couldn’t be more excited about it. But at the same time, he was a bundle of nerves at school, not being able to sit still. Soonyoung was worried. Jihoon was usually the exact opposite.

During lunch, Jihoon sat with Seungcheol and his friends, much to Soonyoung’s disappointment. Seungcheol had insisted they had a ‘discussion’ before the big release.

“I posted a promo on instagram earlier today,” Seungcheol began as he sat down, Jihoon right on his tail, “and people are excited.”

“Great!” Yejin replied with much enthusiasm.

“I also had Yejin and Hansol post a preview of the song yesterday,” he continued.

“Before we release it, I want to talk about a couple of things.”

Jihoon was all ears when Seungcheol talked. He figured it would be important and it was also because he was afraid of angering the elder boy. After a few weeks of knowing him, Jihoon guessed he didn’t have the best control over his anger. However, Jihoon was lucky enough to have never witnessed Seungcheol’s bursts of anger.

At exactly seven o’clock, the song was released. They were all gathered in Seungcheol’s house, this time in his room just a few doors down the home studio. It was spacious, with a huge bed right in the middle and soft carpets, a desk adorned with the latest electronics and the best part, a mini refrigerator filled to the brim with Jihoon’s favourite drink.

Three of them had watched as Seungcheol clicked one button and the song uploaded. Jihoon felt a rush inside his body and he knew it wasn’t because of the Coca Cola he just gulped down. They all celebrated and watched together as the song received good feedback making Jihoon the world’s happiest man.

After a couple more cans of soda, Yejin and Hansol left, leaving Jihoon and Seungcheol behind. Compared to when they first met, Jihoon felt way more comfortable. He was able to breathe properly without his palms getting clammy and nervousness running through his nerves. Despite the calmness, he was still on his toes alert to whatever Seungcheol could and surely would ask from him. He’s gotten to know the elder well enough to know the insides out.

“The song turned out great. How long did it take for you to create it?”

Seungcheol was lying on his bed, playing with his fingers above him while Jihoon sat against the headboard with his legs crossed, an almost empty can in his hand.

“I actually wrote Q&A months ago but I only got to revise it when Yejin came up with the idea. It took me almost. . . one week?”

“Where do you get inspiration from?”

Jihoon felt like he was being interviewed. He wasn’t sure if Seungcheol was asking Jihoon because he ran out of conversation topics or because he was actually interested but decided to entertain him anyways. “Well, people I guess. Everyone around me.”

At those words, Seungcheol sat up and if he wasn’t interested before, he was definitely interested now.

“Who?”

Jihoon paused for a short moment but it was long enough to come off as suspicious and Seungcheol raised an eyebrow.

“My friends.”

“Most of your songs come off as romantic though. Do you, perhaps, have someone special?”

“Special?”

Jihoon knew exactly what he meant but he was still considering telling people about his relationship. One side of him didn’t care what people thought and the other side of him cared a little too much so all he could was stall.

“Someone you like?” Seungcheol still had his eyebrow raised.

Jihoon thought about it for a while. Why was he thinking so much? He was pretty sure Seungcheol wouldn’t care. He didn’t even know Soonyoung. And if he remembered correctly, Seungcheol had mentioned once that he was bisexual so clearly there was no problem with judgement against his sexuality.

“There is. . .” Jihoon trailed off.

“Who?”

If Jihoon wasn’t thinking too much about being honest, he’d think of why Seungcheol was being weirdly nosy. Seungcheol wasn’t the type to pry on people’s business.

Fuck it.

“My friend— uh boyfriend, Soonyoung.”

If Jihoon wasn’t too busy averting his eyes from the nervousness, he’d definitely noticed the disappointment in Seungcheol’s eyes.

“Oh, that’s interesting.”

“Why do you ask?” Jihoon asked once he has the courage to look Seungcheol in the eyes.

Seungcheol shrugged and fell down on his back again. “I wanted to try producing a song. How did you start?”

“My friend had Garageband on his laptop and I just tried it out and it kinda went from there.”

“Was that friend Soonyoung?”

“No. It was Wonwoo. He’s a rapper like you but he’s way too nerdy to be as good as you,” Jihoon quickly added. He didn’t want to offend him for some reason.

Seungcheol smiled. “That’s really cool. You know, we should all hang out sometime. Us and your friends. It’ll be fun.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Uh okay. I’ll make sure to ask them.”

“Great. We can talk about the details later.” Seungcheol’s smiled turned into a smirk, one that Jihoon was already used to but he didn’t quite know what it meant. “It’ll be fun.”

♡

“Hang out?”

Wonwoo crossed his arms against his chest, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes. It’ll be fun,” Jihoon said, echoing the exact words that came out from Seungcheol’s mouth.

Junhui looked at him skeptically. It was quite hard to believe anything like that would come out from the senior’s mouth. Soonyoung, however, didn’t seem to mind but then again he didn’t care about anything as long as Jihoon was there.

“It’ll be fun,” Jihoon repeated.

“I don’t mind,” Soonyoung said, shrugging.

Both Junhui and Wonwoo were still reluctant to go but after a few pleads from Jihoon, they agreed to go. Mainly because they were worried. Jihoon had never pleaded before.

And so there they were, a few days later, at the mall waiting for Seungcheol and his friends. Wonwoo tapped his foot impatiently against the tiled floor, checking the time on his phone again and again.

He sighed. “Does he really think being fashionably late is fashionable?”

“They’re probably just stuck in traffic,” Jihoon reasoned.

Junhui, too, looked like he was on the verge of leaving the place. On the other hand, Soonyoung was sticking close to Jihoon, his lips stretched wide after knowing Jihoon told Seungcheol about their relationship.

Just as Junhui was about to click his tongue, Seungcheol and his friends arrived, standing out with their branded clothing. They all looked oddly different without their usual uniform on -- but then again, so did Jihoon’s friends probably.

“Hey,” Seungcheol greeted cooly, hands inside the pockets of his designer jeans. “I’m Seungcheol. This is Yejin and this is Hansol.”

Junhui hated to admit but Seungcheol definitely was cool. Especially with the nonchalant attitude he gave off. Whether it was a facade or not, Junhui didn’t know.

“Hi, Jihoon! And his friends,” Yejin greeted a little too enthusiastically.

“Hello, Yejin.” Jihoon returned the smile. “These are my friends. This is Soonyoung, that’s Junhui and the mean-looking one is Wonwoo.”

Seungcheol gave his friends a glance over and plastered on a smile. “Nice to meet you guys.”

Soonyoung returned the smile, fiddling with the straps of his bag. “Nice to meet you too.”

It was awkward. Either Seungcheol didn’t realise this or he just didn’t care.

“Let’s eat first. There’s this place Hansol was dying to try.”

Just like that, Seungcheol led the group to a restaurant on the floor above. It was fairly crowded with families and people their age. The air was filled with noises of light chatter and utensils hitting the plate.

The place served Italian food, mainly pizzas which were eaten with disposable plastic gloves. They got a booth near the edge of the room directly across the kitchen.

The atmosphere around them was still awkward until they finished ordering. Seungcheol had done most of the ordering but not after asking the others what they preferred.

“So, Wonwoo, I heard you rap?”

Wonwoo’s eyes widened slightly but he never lost his composure. “How did you know?”

“Jihoon told me.”

“Uh, yes. I do. Just something I like to do for fun.”

“That’s cool. Well, if you like rapping, do you listen to Mad Clown?”

“Actually, no. I like ballads.”

Seungcheol grinned. “Me too.”

Junhui looked at Wonwoo oddly as they both seemed to hit it off. So much for hating the guy.

He looked to his right where Soonyoung and Jihoon were sitting closely and Junhui was pretty sure they had their hands intertwined under the table. Junhui looked at the pair in front of him. He didn’t remember their names but he was pretty sure they were just like Seungcheol. Rich and famous. He happened to hear their conversation; not because he was eavesdropping but because they were right in front of him and they weren’t exactly quiet.

Junhui leaned back a bit when they both turned their heads to stare at him.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“Me?” Junhui asked, pointing at himself. When they nodded he replied, “Junhui.”

“Junhui. We’re going to ask you a serious question,” the girl said, making Junhui raise an eyebrow.

“What is it?”

“Do you pour the milk first or the cereal first?”

Junhui crinkled his nose. “Who in their right mind would pour in milk first?”

The girl made a noise a triumph, something along the lines of, ‘aha!’ and pointed to the boy beside him. “This idiot pours the milk in first.”

The boy shot her a dirty look and sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you? If you pour in the milk first, you’ll have a better cereal to milk ratio. Have you ever wondered why you always end up with too much milk? That’s because you put in the cereal first.” He sounded tired and frustrated.

“But if you pour the milk first, the cereal will float and then you’ll end up putting in way too much cereal.”

The boy with the brown hair sighed again. “Okay, Ailee,” he said with a light mocking tone.

“Wait,” Junhui said and the two looked at him. “You’re Ailee?”

Junhui had definitely heard of Ailee. She was one of the most popular Soundcloud artists but he didn’t know she was friends with Seungcheol.

She raised an eyebrow. “Yes. My name is Yejin though.”

“That’s so cool!” Junhui cleared his throat to ease his excitement. “I’m a big fan of your work.”

Yejin grinned from ear to ear. “Thanks! But I’m nothing compared to Mr. Vernon over here.”

Junhui’s definitely heard of Vernon as well. One of the best rappers reigning the Soundcloud community. Junhui’s sure he has most of Vernon’s songs on his playlist and Ailee’s covers, too.

“You didn’t know Jihoon had a collab with us?” Vernon asked.

“I did but I didn’t expect you guys would come today.”

“Anyways, what do you like doing?” Yejin asked.

“I like to dance sometimes.”

“What do you like to dance?”

They all got along with each other very well and it continued like so, until they were walking out the restaurant.

They walked into stores they found interesting, even going to record shops and make up stores just for Yejin.

A particular clothing store caught Seungcheol’s attention. The clothes looked flashy and the price tags had multiple digits. Not surprising coming from Seungcheol. Soonyoung, Jihoon, Junhui and Wonwoo could only look around. While they were not exactly unfortunate, they would never spend this much money on a piece of clothing.

Once Seungcheol ended up with a bag in his hands, they all gathered back together and went out of the store. A large beeping shocked the group. Soonyoung’s heart started to pound at surprise.

A mall security along with a lady who worked in the store approached them. Seungcheol handed him his bag and the security swung it beside the detector, it didn’t beep again.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m going to have to look through your bag.”

Soonyoung shrugged his bag off and handed it to the security. When he swung it beside the anti theft detector again, it started to beep loudly.

Soonyoung’s eyes widened. No. No. No. This isn’t happening.

The security raised an eyebrow and unzipped the bag. It was full of books as Soonyoung had gone immediately to the mall after his study session. He dug inside the bag and took out a pair of earphones inside a box with a security tag.

Soonyoung held his breath. He could feel his mind going haywire.

“I didn’t do it,” Soonyoung exclaimed, taking a step back.

“I’ll check the CCTV footage,” the lady said and went back inside the shop.

Soonyoung is very much aware of his condition but something inside him told him he didn’t do it. He didn’t even know they sold earphones in this particular clothing store.

“Yeah, it’s not him. He was with me the whole time and he didn’t take anything,” Wonwoo defended. The security frowned and took out a pair of handcuffs.

“I’m sorry, sir, but you’re going to have to come with me.”

Soonyoung felt his whole body heat up from the embarrassment, shame and frustration. He was just a bundle of emotions right now. He could feel the stares he was receiving from the passersby. To avoid any more commotion, he reluctantly followed the security, head bowed in shame. He was aware of the stares from his friends and Seungcheol’s friends drilling the back of his head and he could hear their footsteps as they followed him.

“Hey.” Soonyoung looked up to see his friend. “I know you didn’t do it,” Wonwoo said, “You were with me the whole time and if I saw you take it, I would’ve told you. I believe you. And I’m pretty sure the others do too.”

“I don’t think so,” he muttered and Wonwoo glanced to the back where the others were. Jihoon was talking to Seungcheol with a worried look on his face.

The security led them to an office on the ground floor of the building. He had Soonyoung sit on a chair and he sat right across from him, hands crossed over the empty table. The others sat on the sofa behind Soonyoung.

“According to the rules and regulations of this mall, you will not be allowed to enter the store again under any circumstances. If you do not abide to this rule, you’ll have to face serious consequences.”

He placed the ‘stolen’ earphones on the table and took a photo of Soonyoung.

“Excuse me, sir. My friend didn’t do it.”

“Wonwoo!” Jihoon hissed. “Don’t make this any worse.”

“But he didn’t! I was with him the entire time and he did not take or steal anything. I’m pretty sure he didn’t even touch a single item.”

“If he didn’t steal it how did it end up in his bag?” The security shot back, narrowing his eyes at Wonwoo.

Wonwoo slumped back on the sofa and glared at the floor. “I just know it. He didn’t.”

After ruffling through the drawers, the security brought out a piece of paper and a pen, sliding it to Soonyoung. “I need you to fill this in.”

Soonyoung read the words on the paper, accusing him for doing something bad. His grip on the pen tightened. He dreaded to write down his information but after a harsh glare from the security, he began to fill in the details slowly.

The security walked to the other side of the room to the telephone on the desk and started to call someone. Just as Soonyoung finished writing the details, the man approached him again.

“You’ll be detained here until the authorities arrive.”

“The authorities?” Soonyoung blurted out, head snapping up.

“Yes. Now please follow me inside the cell.”

It was a small holding cell in a part of the room furthest from them guarded with bars. Soonyoung looked at his friends who all had frowns on their faces -- even Seungcheol and his friends. It surprised him they were still staying and not running off to their homes.

It broke his heart the most when he made eye contact with Jihoon whose face was covered in disappointment. He trudged inside the cell with his head lowered down, hands still cuffed together. The security locked it.

“Is there evidence from the CCTV yet?” Seungcheol asked. The security manoeuvred around the desk and took the phone, punching some numbers and pressing it against his ear.

“The area where the item was displayed had no cameras facing right towards it so it is hard to tell. This doesn’t mean your friend will be exempted. He’s still staying here until the police arrive.”

It was a couple of minutes later when the door opened and two men decked out in the police uniform arrived.

The mall security unlocked the door and took the paper Soonyoung had previously filled, giving it to one of the policeman.

“What was stolen this time?”

“A pair of earphones. An expensive one at that.”

“You all are required to follow for witnesses statement,” the taller of the two policemen said with a bored tone, probably had to say it at least fifteen times a day.

Soonyoung had to go into the police car, trying his best to ignore all the stares and whispers. The rest had used Seungcheol’s car as Junhui, Jihoon and Wonwoo had walked to the mall.

The police station was just a couple blocks from the shopping mall and they reached in no time. Soonyoung was led to a table and questioned by a police. Then, his friends were questioned one by one. The police returned after questioning the witnesses and sat on the seat across from Soonyoung.

“Mr. Kwon, one of your friends told me you have a condition called kleptomania.”

Soonyoung gulped. “Yes. I’m self diagnosed. But nothing serious happened yet.”

The police raised an eyebrow. “Not until today.”

“Instead of putting you in jail, we have decided to send you to a therapy.”

“Yes, sir,” Soonyoung replied.

“If you fail to attend, you will be arrested and attained. In any cases you are found to be lying about your condition, you’ll face some serious consequences.”

The police took a key from his pocket and unlocked the handcuffs. After he had to fill some more papers and was given the therapy’s address, Soonyoung went outside where his friends were waiting, Seungcheol and his friends had left already.

They all decided to walk home as it wasn’t far from where they all lived. It was silent. They passed their school, using the usual route they use whenever they were going home together. Soonyoung felt horrible. Not only did he feel accused for something he didn’t do, he felt horrible for letting his friends down, he felt so guilty it was eating him alive.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered under his breath.

“Don’t be sorry. We know you didn’t do it,” Junhui said. Wonwoo definitely agreed but Jihoon still had that disappointed look on his face.

Junhui and Wonwoo went to their separate houses, leaving Jihoon and Soonyoung together.

“Why’d you do it?” Jihoon asked.

“I didn’t do it. Jihoon, I swear. You have to believe me. You know I —“

“I know you can’t help it but—“ Jihoon sighed, “I just remembered the time you said you would buy me a pair of new earphones.”

“I didn’t do it,” Soonyoung repeated for the nth time that day. “You know best that I always know when I take something.”

“But that’s the thing, Soonyoung. How do you explain why they were inside your bag?”

Jihoon stopped walking. They were right in front of his house.

“You don’t trust me,” Soonyoung said, his voice cracking just as his heart was.

“I do. It’s just that you have this condition and I understand you can’t help it but you shouldn’t lie. Maybe you didn’t feel it and you did take it. I do trust you, Soonyoung, I really do. But maybe just not this time.”

“Great.” Soonyoung laughed bitterly. “Not even my boyfriend believes me. I always thought you were the one who would understand me the most.”

“I do understand you. I understand you can’t help it.”

“If you don’t trust me. Maybe we should just break up.”

The next few seconds were silent. Only the sound of the wind blowing their hair. Soonyoung couldn’t believe what he just said. He wanted to take it back but he figured it was for the best.

Jihoon clenched his fists and looked up at Soonyoung with a glare. “Fine. We’re over. That’s funny, we finished before we even started.”

He then stomped up to his house and slammed the door closed, leaving Soonyoung outside. Soonyoung only let his tears fall when he was back in the comfort of his own room. A part of him wanted to go back to Jihoon and beg for forgiveness but another part of him knew it was the right choice.

</3

Soonyoung had never liked pills but then again he’d never been one to talk back so when the psychiatrist prescribed him white pills inside a bottle with a word he’d never heard of before, he immediately took one as he reached home just as the doctor told him to.

He placed the bottle down on his desk and glanced at the clock above him. It read 12:05. Sighing, he went over to his bed and laid down.

Yesterday was a shit show. Soonyoung had never once experienced such a horrible day. After bawling his eyes out, his mom had entered the room and asked about the name card of a therapist. He was reluctant to tell his mom but he couldn’t even think anymore and he was so, so tired. He decided to tell her everything about his kleptomania. When he was done, she hugged him and caressed his hair but not before scolding him for not telling her anything.

“I know I’m always busy at work but I’m always there for you, okay?”

Soonyoung nodded.

“Why don’t you take a day off school tomorrow? I think you need it. Go to the therapist in the morning and come back home.”

Soonyoung closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He desperately wanted to forget everything or wake up the next day just to find out it was all a nightmare. Eventually, he let sleep take over him.

A knock woke him up. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at the clock. He slept for three hours. The door opened and Junhui and Wonwoo entered.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Like absolute shit,” Soonyoung replied, sitting up.

“How was the therapy session?” Junhui asked.

“It was okay, I guess. It wasn’t as bad as I thought.”

“Did anything happen to you and Jihoon?” Wonwoo asked, a frown on his face.

Soonyoung turned rigid before he asked, “why do you ask?”

Wonwoo shrugged. “He was acting like an asshole today. I thought it might have something to do with you.”

“We, uhm, broke up.”

“What?!” Junhui exclaimed. “What the hell happened?”

“We just did,” Soonyoung shrugged. “He doesn’t trust me.”

“But- what?!”

“Why are you acting so cool about it?” Wonwoo questioned. “You were, and probably are, still head over heels for him.”

“Must be the meds,” Soonyoung pointed lazily to the bottle on the table.

“You should rest,” Junhui advised, picking up his bag and swinging it over his shoulder. “We’ll leave you alone.”

“Bye, Soonyoung. We’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

Right before they exited the door, Wonwoo stopped to look at his friend. “And ignore what Jihoon says. He’s dumb.”

“We trust you!” Junhui shouted from a metre away from the door.

Soonyoung smiled weakly. “Thanks, guys.”

</3

Attending school the next day was a bad idea. Not only did he have to see Jihoon but he had to see him with Seungcheol which really sucked. For that reason, he was extremely glad to have his friends right beside him and he was starting to feel grateful to the teacher who shuffled their seats; he didn’t know if he could survive sitting near Jihoon for hours of lessons.

At lunch, he tried his best not to look at Jihoon’s way and focus on the cold food on his tray. He ate two spoonfuls of rice before dropping the chopsticks on the tray. He sighed, looking at his friends sitting right across him.

“Don’t forget your meds,” Junhui reminded.

“Yes, mom.”

Soonyoung took the bottle of pills from his bag and gulped one down with water. He dropped the bottle in his bag and zipped it up. He folded his hands against the table and buried his head in it. Despite the noisy cafeteria, Soonyoung found his own silence to think of how different everything became in just one day.

On the other side of the room, Jihoon had the perfect view of Soonyoung. He had watched when Soonyoung take the pill and he could feel his gut wrenching.

Seungcheol was discussing something Jihoon, for once, didn’t care about. He was too caught up in his own thoughts and regrets.

As he walked to class when the bell rang, Jihoon saw Soonyoung and he couldn’t lie and say it wasn’t hurtful when they just brushed each others shoulders, passing as if they were strangers.

The next couple of days turned into weeks and before he knew it two weeks had passed. Jihoon had no idea how he could cope with school without his friends. Seungcheol and his friends were alright, they took him in while he was in a dispute with his friends, but he missed his friends. Most of all, he missed Soonyoung.

It was right before lunch break when Jihoon got pulled into an empty classroom. He stumbled inside and the door was closed behind him.

“Yejin!” Jihoon exclaimed.

“Shh!”

“What are you doing?”

“Hiding from Seungcheol.” She took one last glance at the window before dragging Jihoon to the back of the room. “I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“I never wanted to tell you but you looked so sad these past few days. You always smile and laugh but whenever you think no one is looking, you have this sad look on your face as if someone murdered your family or something.”

Jihoon felt the anxiety cloud over him. “Yejin, what is it?”

“Jihoon,” she began, looking at him straight in the eye. “I really really like you.”

Jihoon’s eyes grew wide and he struggled to form coherent words. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, face flushed and red.

“And I told Seungcheol which was the biggest mistake of my entire life.”

“You’re scaring me,” Jihoon said shakily.

“He told me you were dating someone.”

(“He told me he had someone special. Someone named Soonyoung or something.”

Yejin frowned. She hadn’t like Jihoon for a long time but it was enough to send a pang right to her heart.

“His best friend,” Seungcheol added.

Well, she definitely couldn’t compete with that.

“I don’t know what to do, Cheol. I really really like him.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” she replied, throwing her hands up in frustration. “Do you need a reason to like someone?”

“He’s not really your type.”

“I don’t know,” she repeated, “It’s just the songs he writes. They’re so good and the lyrics are so meaningful and beautiful and raw. I feel like I can understand him.”

“Maybe it’s just a fan type of like,” Seungcheol suggested, shrugging.

“No. It’s not that.” She sighed. “I don’t know. I hate this.”

Seungcheol looked at her sympathetically and opened his arms, wrapping them around her smaller frame. “You really like him?”

“Yes,” she replied against her shirt, words coming out muffled.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”)

“At first, I didn’t understand what he said but I think I know. And whatever he did worked.”

“I - what do you mean?” Jihoon asked. The puzzles weren’t fitting together and he had never felt this confused in his entire life.

“Don’t you see? It worked. You broke up with your boyfriend.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened and finally the puzzles fit together perfectly, creating the most disturbing image that haunted Jihoon to the core.

“Fuck,” he cursed.

“I’m so sorry, Jihoon. I didn’t know,” Yejin sobbed.

“Soonyoung, I’m so sorry.”

</3

Soonyoung was pretending to do his homework when the door swung open. His sister poked her head in. “You have a guest.”

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know,” she said nonchalantly and left.

He went downstairs and just as he opened the door, he felt his heart slam against his chest.

“Jihoon. What are you doing here?”

Jihoon bit his lip, foot drawing circles on the floor and hands clasped behind his back. “Can we talk?”

Soonyoung looked like he was considering but he gave in anyways, closing the door behind him.

“What’s up?” He asked, trying his best to sound as casual as possible.

“Uh, I don’t know where to start.”

Soonyoung waited patiently.

“I’m so sorry, Soonyoung.”

“What for?”

“I messed up. I hurt you.”

Soonyoung didn’t reply.

“Yejin told me everything. She told me she liked me and she told Seungcheol. Seungcheol asked me if I had anyone special and I said I do- or, did at least, you.”

“What are you saying, Jihoon?” Soonyoung asked, heart pounding.

“I think Seungcheol put the earphones inside your bag.”

“Wait, what?”

Soonyoung couldn’t digest Jihoon’s words. It didn’t make any sense. Why would Seungcheol do that?

“He wanted us to break up and it worked. We did break up.”

Speechless. That was what Soonyoung was. He really didn’t have any words to say.

“I’m so so extremely sorry, Soonyoung. I should’ve trusted you,” Jihoon said, his voice cracking. A tear slid down his cheek.

“Jihoon, it’s not your fault. I was thinking and I would be suspicious too if I were you,” Soonyoung said.

“Stop being so kind,” Jihoon choked. “I was wrong. You should be getting angry.”

“I don’t know, Jihoon. I don’t see a point in getting angry. Besides, it’s all done anyways. We can’t change the past,” Soonyoung replied calmly. “It’s getting late. You should probably go home.”

“Wait. Can I ask you for three things?”

Soonyoung frowned. “What?”

“The first is, please forgive me. I fucked badly. It was stupid of me not to trust you and Wonwoo and Junhui. Please give me one more chance,” Jihoon managed.

“You hurt me a lot, Jihoon,” Soonyoung admitted, “but I forgive you.”

Jihoon let out a breath of relief, still sniffing a little. “The second is can we please go back to the way we were? I really hate things the way they are. I really miss you guys.”

Soonyoung paused for a while before nodding, smiling a little. “I’d like that.”

“Lastly,” Jihoon took a deep breath, letting it out shakily, “Would it be too much to ask for you to love me again?” He felt tears build up in his eyes and he blinked, letting them fall. “‘cause I love you so much it hurts,” he sobbed.

“Oh, Jihoon,” Soonyoung said, coming over to hug Jihoon. “You’re such a dummy.”

Jihoon squeezed Soonyoung, burying his head in the crook of his neck. Soonyoung pulled back, holding Jihoon’s shoulders and then placing them on his face. He pulled him closer and pressed his lips against Jihoon’s forhead.

“I never stopped.”

♡

Jihoon was never one to waste time so the next day, during lunch, he confronted Seungcheol. He was reminded of why he was intimidated by the senior the first time they had talked.

“Seungcheol, can we talk?” He asked, stopping Seungcheol from entering the cafeteria. Seungcheol shrugged and followed him to an emptier area.

“I don’t think I can collab with you anymore,” Jihoon began.

Seungcheol raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms against his chest. “And why is that?”

Jihoon looked at him straight in the eye. “I know what you did to Soonyoung.” He didn’t know where all this courage was coming from but it felt great.

“Oh?” Seungcheol asked and he did not look an ounce ashamed at all which astounded Jihoon.

“Why did you do it?”

“I was giving Yejin a little help. But if it offended you then I apologise,” Seungcheol drawled.

“You made my friend go to jail!” Jihoon exclaimed, unable to stay calm.

“He steals things. Sooner or later, he would have to go. I just sped up the process.”

Jihoon opened his mouth to give Seungcheol another piece of his mind but closed after he realised something. “Wait, how did you know Soonyoung is kleptomaniac?”

Seungcheol waved his hand around as if it was nothing. “You’d be surprised what kind of information you can get if you ask the right people.”

“You fucking asshole,” Jihoon seethed, “I should’ve listened when Wonwoo called you an asshole.”

Seungcheol hummed. “Wonwoo? He’s a cool kid.”

Jihoon felt his blood boil at how nonchalant Seungcheol was being. He absolutely hated dealing with these kinds of people.

“Leave my friends alone,” Jihoon demanded and left.

“God, Seungcheol is an asshole.”

“We’ve been trying to tell you,” Junhui said, waving his spoon around.

“Anyways, I’m done with him. I’m not speaking to him ever again,” Jihoon declared.

Soonyoung frowned. “What about your Soundcloud? Isn’t he the one helping it grow?”

“Yes and I’m very thankful for that but he messed with you like that! It’s disgusting. I’m not associating myself with that type of person.” Jihoon leaned back and crossed his arms.

“That’s okay, Jihoon. We can help you with your songs. If you need a rapper, there’s Wonwoo and if you need more melodious voices, Junhui and I are there,” Soonyoung said.

Jihoon laughed. “Right.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m great at singing!” Soonyoung pouted.

“I didn’t say you weren’t.”

“But it sounded like you were implying it,” he protested.

“Don’t assume, Soonyoung. It makes an ass out of you and me.”

Soonyoung grinned, eyes turning into crescent moons. “You’re lucky I love you.”

Jihoon smiled back. “I love you too.”

“Gross.”

♡

Soonyoung was starting to get used to therapy. Not only did it help him with his condition, it also helped him with his emotions and relieving himself. And usually, the best part was right after his sessions when he meets Jihoon and they walk around the neighbourhood, sometimes ending up in the park.

The park was an average one with slides and swings but no kids usually came to play, especially at this time. Soonyoung and Jihoon took advantage of that and sat themselves down on the swings while eating ice cream.

“When was the first time you took something?” Jihoon asked.

“I tried taking my mom’s phone when I was twelve, just for fun, but I think I started to like the rush of adrenaline a little too much.”

“Do you feel any impulses now?”

Soonyoung thought about it for a while. “Not as often as before, that’s for sure.”

“Once you get better, promise me not to give me a heart attack and don’t steal anything else.”

Soonyoung grinned cheekily. “No promises.”

Jihoon frowned. “Why?”

“I stole your heart, didn’t I?”

 


End file.
